Jay Solomon, Jakarta – The US is taking an increasingly hard line toward President Abdurrahman Wahid's government as Washington tries to promote democracy and accountability in Southeast Asia's largest country.

But Mr. Wahid's increasingly feeble political position makes it uncertain whether the Clinton administration's harsher stance will help stabilize Indonesia or exacerbate the country's multiple woes. Indeed, last week's bomb blast that killed 15 people in the heart of Jakarta's financial district is widely seen as further evidence of just how little control Mr. Wahid has over this fractious nation.

Washington's ire towards Jakarta reached a new peak this month after members of East Timorese militias – which have been backed by the Indonesian army – killed three foreign United Nations refugee workers in the province of West Timor. Top US officials had been asking Mr. Wahid and the Indonesian military for months to restrain the militia groups, which have been intimidating the more than 100,000 East Timorese refugees in West Timor, as well as the UN staffers providing them assistance. The killings sparked calls in Washington to continue an US arms embargo against Indonesia. And Clinton administration officials have raised the threat of cutting financial support for the debt-ridden Jakarta government.

"It's clear that the Indonesian government has convinced itself that the international community will support them no matter what they do," said a senior US government official involved in policy-making on Indonesia. "The US and other governments have decided that they need to take a more direct means to make Indonesia take responsibility for its actions."

Official visit

US Secretary of Defense William Cohen arrived in Jakarta Sunday for an official visit and warned Mr. Wahid's government it risked "isolation" if it didn't cooperate on West Timor. The issue will likely surface yet again at a World Bank-sponsored Indonesian aid donors meeting in Tokyo next month.

Commercial disputes have also divided Washington and Jakarta in recent months. In Indonesia, US business deals struck during former President Suharto's 32-year-long rule continue to come under attack from nationalists and reformers alike. US officials have been particularly critical of Indonesia's refusal to abide by contracts to buy electricity from a number of US power companies. Some in Jakarta maintain that the contracts were detrimental to the country because they involved allegedly corrupt arrangements with members of Mr. Suharto's family and their cronies – charges Washington and the US companies deny.

Disputes over mining, oil and gas, and telecommunications ventures have also caused diplomatic friction. In one instance, US officials have threatened Mr. Wahid's government with expropriating Indonesian assets overseas should Jakarta fail to pay out a $290 million insurance claim lodged by the US government's political-risk insurer, the Overseas Private Investment Corp.

So far, Jakarta has resisted Washington's heavy hand. Last week, senior Indonesian military officials said they were seeking to buy military hardware from Russia to skirt the US arms embargo. Indeed, Indonesian officers have complained that supply shortages have made it difficult for the armed forces to deal effectively with separatist and sectarian conflicts that have flared across the archipelago since Mr. Suharto was forced from office in 1998.

"We'll need to find third countries" to provide spare military parts, said one Indonesian general, citing Indonesia's long-standing reliance on the US for airplane equipment.

Repeated public criticism of Indonesia's government and military by US Ambassador Robert S. Gelbard has also rankled lawmakers and bureaucrats. Among other things, Mr. Gelbard has openly voiced US concerns over the security situation in West Timor, rising terrorism in Jakarta, and a deteriorating business environment. He has also complained that some Indonesian government officials were acting in an "anti-American" fashion. Some Indonesians legislators have demanded that Indonesia's ministry of foreign affairs formally reprimand Mr. Gelbard for his outspoken comments. "The US Ambassador has repeatedly made interventionist statements regarding our internal policies. If necessary, he could be considered persona non grata," said Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, chairman of Indonesia's parliamentary commission on foreign affairs.

An official at the US Embassy in Jakarta said last week that Mr. Gelbard's comments were appropriate "and made in the best intentions of improving US-Indonesian relations." Another US official said Washington "has tried everything" to make Jakarta deal with rising security and terrorist threats, adding that the Wahid government hasn't responded.

A fine line

Washington is walking an increasingly delicate diplomatic tightrope with its aggressive stance, diplomats here said. "If you don't say anything, nothing gets done," said one Western ambassador, who supports the US's toughened position. "But if you say something publicly, the Indonesians charge you with backing them into a corner."

Indeed, the biggest fear is that Washington's high-profile complaints could produce a nationalist backlash. Mr. Wahid has been struggling during his 11 months in office to push democratic reforms while trying to assert civilian control over the widely disliked, but still powerful Indonesian armed forces.

"If you push too hard, you could push the civilian government back closer to the military," says Dewi Fortuna Anwar, who served as chief foreign policy adviser to former Indonesian President B.J. Habibie.